Moving from Germany: Time for Swiss Surprises 🎁

Hi there,

I will start with comparison of 2 countries I've lived in, to set up a baseline:

Poland 🇵🇱
Every apartment comes with bathroom and fitted kitchen (as in fully furnished, with both cupboards, and sink, and devices like oven or fridge, etc.). No exceptions, unless you are buying the place.
Next, almost every apartment (think 90%+ of the available offers) is fully furnished, with sofas, wardrobes, tables, chairs, beds, etc. Basically all you need to start living in a place is the suitcase with your clothes and a box of plates and silverware and you're good to go.
Minimum rental period is a year or two, with a 2 months notice. Deposit is also 2-months of rent. Poland is a uniformed country, so there are no dialect/tax/culture differences across all regions. Wherever you go everything stays the same. And it is the renter market, so it's you who chooses the apartment to rent, not the owner. Basically a dream for anyone who's looking for a place to stay (but that's about it.)

Germany 🇩🇪
Germany is not as diversified as Switzerland from state to state, but from what I see here in Hessen, less than 20% of the apartments have Einbauküche. Quite often you can buy one off from the previous Mieter though (if they are willing to sell). There are no chandeliers in the rooms, just cables sticking out of ceiling. Security deposit is 2 to 3 months of cold rent and notice period is also 2 to 3 months. What surprised me the most is that the balcony or a cellar or a Mansarde are counted toward the total living area, listed in the ad. So in two listings of 100m2 apartments one can be 100m2 and the other effectively 70m2 because it has 10m2 cellar, 10m2 balcony and 10m2 Mansarde.
Oh, and Parkplätze (regarless if its Außenstellplatz or Tiefgarage) is paid separately, on top of the advertised rent.
There's Catch 22 when renting a place: in order to rent it, you need Schufa (credit check), which you can only get when you have a bank account, which you can only get if you have apartment rented.

Switzerland 🇨🇭
Now off to you, fellow redditors, as I plan to move to Switzerland within next 2-3 years, before my 2 kids will go to school.

Seeing my perspective - Q1: what should I be prepared for and what will surprise me the most?

I know it's the owners' market, so it's them who choose whether they will rent it to you or not.
I know it's best to have a full time job. I am a self-employed / Freiberufler, making decent money (highest tax class, and sole provider for the family, as wife doesn't work yet - still on maternal leave), working for international clients as a consultant.
Q2: Is my bank account statement enough to get me through the screening process? I mean the proof of relatively steady month-to-month income from my business.

Q3: As we're considering moving to Ticino/Lugano - is English enough to get by in city offices or everyday life before we will learn proper Italian? Is German (as in Hochdeutsch) of any use in Italian-speaking canton?

Q4: What are the best websites to look for apartments?

Q5: How are Swiss Italians toward the dogs? In Germany you can take the dog with you almost everywhere, unless it's a grocery/bakery. In Poland it's uncommon, and in the restaurants you need to ask for permission before you enter. We have mid-size dog who is a member of a family, so he's with us all the time.

Q6: What can I do to ease up the process of moving in? Before I moved in to Germany, a friend of mine offered me "a place to stay" (at least on paper), so I had my name on her mailbox, so I could receive the mail, and open a bank account and start receiving first money transfers to that account so when I really moved I had established some "presence", get my Schufa, and it was quite easy.

Q7: to reiterate the first one: what should I be prepared for and what will surprise me the most?
I appreciate all the honest answers and if you have any tips to throw in on top of my questions - by all means, let me know!